For those of you who haven’t noticed, yet, I’m not very good at waiting. I hate standing in lines at post offices. The lines at Costco can drive me up a wall. Waiting for pages to load on websites is a source of major frustration – and sitting around a doctor’s office a half hour or more past my appointment time is the most irritating, of all. Not surprisingly, Christmas shopping is not one of my favorite activities – but we don’t need to go into that this morning!

You might think that, as someone who doesn’t like waiting himself, I wouldn’t be one of those pastors who emphasizes the need to wait until Christmas to sing Christmas carols in church … but I am! (Of course you may have guessed that already by looking at what we’re singing this morning!) Some might say that I am being inconsistent – and a less kind person might even accuse me of hypocrisy! – but the truth of the matter is, although I don’t like to wait for things, I do understand that sometimes waiting is necessary … even good! This is one of those times! (However, having said that, I also want you to know that I’m not obsessive about it – which is why we will have a hymn sing at the beginning of worship for the next three Sundays, so you can sing what might seem right for you!)

Waiting is sometimes good and important. We need to wait for seeds to sprout – other than watering them, there is simply nothing we can do to speed up that process! And, as someone has pointed out recently, as agonizing as it might be to watch (and as tempting as it might be to “help”) a butterfly break out of its cocoon or a baby bird out of its shell, we need to wait for those natural processes to take place because that is an important part of the growth processes for each of them. Educators now tell us that it is very important for babies to wait to start walking. Crawling is an essential stage of their development. Finally, we all know how important it is to wait for healing to take place after surgery – and that failure to wait can have dire and painful consequences!

Whether we like it or not, waiting is often an important process in life. For me, waiting to celebrate Christmas is one of those times.

Although there may be people who worship with us this month who don’t already know the story of Jesus’ birth, the vast majority of people here (and in other churches, of course) do already know the details of the story. What is equally important, however, is to keep remembering that the story of Jesus’ birth took place within the context of a much longer and critically important history. The more we remember this historical context, the more significant the actual birth becomes to us.

Many people in Israel had been waiting for – longing for – the Messiah for many years. They yearned for the day when they would be a fully independent nation again – a nation free to worship God without some Macedonian, Syrian, or Roman overseer peering over their shoulders or giving permission to do those things that God had commanded them to do. They yearned for the end to the slaughter of war, for the days Isaiah foretold when swords would be beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks. They longed for the days when they could live in peace, when they could harvest their olives and grapes and figs and grain and not have to worry about some occupying army taking the overlord’s share first. Like people of any number of countries in our own world, today, they longed for a time when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The people of Israel, then, as people of many countries today, yearned for the day when they could live without fear – and when mutual respect would prevail among people. Knowing that the people of Israel believed that the coming of the Messiah would usher in such an idyllic and peaceful era, provides perspective for the differing ways in which people received the Good News of Jesus’ birth.

Still, if that were all that there was to the story, we might still be justified in jumping immediately to singing Christmas carols and delighting in our knowledge that the Messiah has come in the birth of Jesus. But, of course, our Gospel lesson reminds us that there is more to the story: “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

As true as it is that the birth of Jesus was the birth of the Messiah, so it is true that the fullness of Isaiah’s prophecies has not yet been realized – and will not be realized until the Son of Man returns. It is for this reason, this reminder that there will be a second coming of Christ, that we observe the season of Advent, the season of watching and waiting, the season of anticipation and yearning … the season of burgeoning hope! Not singing Christmas carols on the first Sunday of Advent is one way to remind ourselves of this critically important reality … even though I need to tell you, I don’t particularly like waiting, either!

Truth be told, every year it gets a bit harder for me – and every year God gives me a reminder of why waiting is an important part of faith. This year is no exception.

I mention the magazine The Christian Century often – it is an important part of my self- growth in faith. This week I was reading another issue and stumbled across a remarkable reflection by a man whose father had recently died. In sorting through his father’s things, he stumbled upon a series of handwritten journals that is father had kept throughout World War II – journals his father had never mentioned to anyone. As the son read them, he gained powerful insights into, not only what his father had experienced during the war, but the kind of personal and spiritual growth that his father had experienced then, as well. He mentioned two particular incidents, one absurd, the other sobering, indeed.

His father recalled one day on a transport ship standing in line for breakfast. There were so many troops waiting that the line actually encircled the ship’s deck several times. His father’s annoyance was heightened when he came to realize that this line of those waiting to eat breakfast actually crossed a second line of men – men who had already eaten breakfast and were now waiting for lunch!

The second incident involved waiting for what he believed to be his imminent death. Again, his father was on a transport ship, this time under attack by kamikaze pilots. Because he and the other troops did not have battle stations on the ship, they were directed to remain below deck, where it was presumed to be safest – until someone realized that there was only one hatch leading out of the compartment crowded with 500 soldiers. He watched as many of these soldiers pushed, shoved, and jammed their way toward this hatch, desperately intending to be among those who escaped. This man’s father calmly wrote of his analysis of the hopelessness of the situation. His response was to lie on his bunk preparing himself to die as he waited for what seemed like the inevitable. In the utter randomness of such warfare, this ship was spared and another struck and sunk, taking 400 soldiers to their deaths in similarly crowded compartment.

While many others became increasingly desperate, profane, and self-focused in their determination to survive, this soldier’s journals reflect that he became what his son described as “enlarged in the waiting.” In the face of the unavoidable necessity of waiting for things over which he had absolutely no control, this man became “more kind, humble, and truthful,” as well as “more faithful and devoted” to God. He came to understand that he was waiting, not just for his war and his suffering to be over, but for an end to the war that devastated the people of New Guinea, the Philippines, and countless other islands to be over, as well.

There is nothing that any of us can do to hasten the return of Christ. There is nothing any of us can do to leapfrog our world into that blissful vision of harmony and peace described by Isaiah. Rushing headlong into a celebration of Christ’s birth will not do this. Waiting, however, waiting with patience and hope, just might enlarge us in the process. Taking the time to reflect on what the coming of Christ has meant and does mean for us just may enlarge our faith and our devotion to God. Waiting for Christ’s coming might make us a bit kinder, a bit more humble, perhaps even more truthful about our own shortcomings and need for a Savior! Waiting for Christ’s return gives us an opportunity to reach out to others with this Good News of God’s saving grace. Waiting just might help us understand God’s desire that we work together to care for those in need around us … for those also waiting!

“The days are surely coming,” says the Lord, and, until they do come, our task is to wait, to grow in faith, to be enlarged as children of God, to invite others into a saving relationship with Jesus as Lord, and to help others experience the generous grace of God while they wait.

I don’t like to wait – for haircuts, for doctors appointments, or to spend $3.20 a gallon for gasoline … but I am learning that waiting can be an important part of life. It is also an essential part of my journey to Bethlehem each Christmas. Waiting is an important part of my faithfulness to God! Join me in the waiting – I suspect it will be good for all of us!

Amen

© Anacortes UMC

Anacortes United Methodist Church
2201 H Avenue, Anacortes, WA 98221 USA
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 573, Anacortes, WA 98221
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